Farm Horizons, Feb. 2002

Extension workforce to be cut by 20%

By Lynda Jensen

Change and uncertainty is in the air for the University
of Minnesota Extension Office.

The office will be making long-awaited cuts of close to
20 percent of its workforce, effective early February, said Lee Raeth, district
director of the central district office of the extension service for the
University of Minnesota.

The cuts are no surprise to extension employees, since
changes have been proposed for several years.

However, details about imminent program cuts and potential
layoffs have been slow in coming, said Joe Neubauer, an educator at the
McLeod County Extension Office.

Although layoffs are likely, the service hopes to use early
retirement and other options first before it moves to layoffs, Raeth said.

The service will attempt to encourage early retirement
for the time being, Raeth said. Exactly how many positions will be left
will be announced soon, he said.

Across the board cuts are planned

The cuts are not related to the state budget crises, or
financial cuts handed to the University of Minnesota last year, Raeth said.

Rather, a plan for the extension service has been in the
works for several years, he said.

In fact, talk about changing the extension service for
the year 2000 surfaced as early as 1997, said Wright County Commissioner
Dick Mattson.

Mattson serves on both the 4-H extension committee of Wright
County, and the four-county cluster committee, and has done so for nine
years.

The cluster of Wright, Sherburne, Benton, and Stearns is
well known for being active, Mattson said.

Even if the state had a surplus, these changes would still
be implemented, commented Mary Anderson, an educator for Wright County.

Reasons that are driving the change include financial problems,
and the service trying to respond to the way people are asking for information,
Raeth said.

The service is currently operating at a deficit, Neubauer
said.

The legislature asked the extension service in May to examine
its structure and come up with a plan, Neubauer said.

The new extension service will feature cuts across the
board, with equal cuts reflected in the workforce statewide, Raeth said.

Rural Minnesota is not a target for more cuts than the
other areas, he said.

This statement is met with strong skepticism by both Mattson
and Rep. Bob Ness, chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Development
Finance committee.

Too many cuts are planned for rural Minnesota, where the
service is the most popular, Ness said. "They will be doing less, with
less."

"It's easy to cut, but what are you cutting, and for
what purpose?" Mattson asked.

What the new service will be like?

Each county will continue to have its own office, which
will be staffed by at least one program assistant, Raeth said.

"We are not closing any county offices," Raeth
said.

Educators, however, will be spread out across counties
and regionalized, Raeth said. This will allow the service to continue offering
resources without depleting it financially, he said.

These changes are worrisome for Anderson, who wondered
how much of the infrastructure of people and resources would be lost, she
said. Depending on the cuts, it would be hard to recapture that structure,
she said.

"We don't know where they are projecting to make cuts,"
she said.

The dairy industry, for example, is a huge revenue engine
for the state, and may suffer if the extension offices cuts certain services,
she said.

Another example is 4-H, Anderson said, which depends heavily
on volunteers, Anderson said.

If local volunteers are distanced from educators who are
working regionally, the extension service may lose them, she said.

"My fear is that we have a great base of parent volunteers,"
she said. "We could jeopardize that."

One out of every four children participate in 4-H, Ness
said.

Direct cuts are not planned for 4-H, since it is a strong
program, although it will be affected by the regionalization of educators,
he said.

"There will not be direct budget cuts to 4-H as such,
Raeth said.

State and county fairs will also be affected as little
as possible, Raeth said.

Under the new plan, all extension programs will be under
three arenas:

1. Community development and vitality,

2. Land, food and environment, and,

3. Youth development and family living.

This information represents a huge bedrock of research-based
information from the University of Minnesota to the public, Anderson said.

The nice thing about the extension service is that it has
nothing to sell, such as a seed dealer might have to a farmer, she said.

"It is an integral part of our heritage," Ness
said.

The changes are spurred by metro area legislators, who
pack voting power, and care little about the extension service, Mattson
said.

Cloud of uncertainty

Local extension educators admit being in the dark about
what the future holds.

For some time, educators have been bracing for change,
but exactly what kind of change ­ and whether they still have a job
­ is unknown, and has been that way for a long time, Neubauer said.

A core group of people have been meeting to form the details
of what will happen, although communication with extension staff has been
few and far between, Neubauer said.

"I'd be much healthier, if I knew (what was going
to happen)," Neubauer said.

"We don't know what it means for us," Anderson
said.

Mattson indicated the service was floundering from a lack
of direction and continuity, which is aggravated by a turnover in staff,
he said.

"They are not giving good direction to educators,"
Mattson said.

Where the money comes from

Half of the budget for the extension service is funded
by the state, to the tune of $27.5 million, Ness said.

The balance is made up by federal money, grants, and counties.
The latter contributes more than quarter of its budget, he said.

There has been some indication that the state hopes counties
will shoulder more of the financial burden, Ness said.

Raeth denied this, saying that the university was not looking
in that direction. However, it is hoping that grants and collaborative projects
will yield more fruit, Raeth said.

Money that comes from state, county, or federal, is getting
harder to find, Raeth said.